The U.S. Census Bureau revealed that between 2019 and 2021, the number of people primarily working from home tripled from 5.7 percent (roughly 9 million people) to 17.9 percent. As of 2022, 91 million Americans have been offered the option to work remotely either full or part-time.
Working from home brings a multitude of benefits. But for people to work from home efficiently, they need to be connected to colleagues, clients and customers at all times. So, for remote workers and those who employ them, internet access couldn’t be more important.
To uncover which state in the United States where workers have the best internet, Texas-based hosting company Oplink.net looked into a number of factors relating to internet usage, including the percentage of people working from home, average internet speed (megabits per second, Mbps), cost of internet by state (per megabit, Mb) and the amount of people who searched ‘slow internet’ since January 2020. Oplink.net then scored each of the factors to come up with an overall score out of 100.
Taking in all the factors and the overall score, Vermont has the worst internet for remote workers with a score of 4.24. According to Oplink.net’s survey, only 19.50 percent of people in Vermont work from home, which is among the lowest in the country.
Although the cost of the internet is low and the average download speed is high, Vermont has the highest search volume for ‘slow internet’ in the United States – second only to Idaho.
The research shows New York has the best internet for remote workers, with an overall score of 100.69. In terms of download speed, the Empire State is 15th out of a possible 48, however, a combination of low cost ($1.72 per Mb), low volume of ‘slow internet’ searches and a high percentage of people (51.60 percent) working remotely means it topped the list, beating North Dakota by two points.
Based on Oplink.net’s research the five best states for remote working were:
- New York
- North Dakota
- Virginia
- Wyoming
- Nebraska
The five worst states for remote working were:
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Maine
- Idaho
- Wisconsin
Oplink.net President Dan Newman said, “Remote working is now something that is essential in the modern workforce, so having good and reliable internet is extremely important and we were eager to see where in the U.S. is the best place to do this.
“New York state has a lot of working professionals, so it’s good to see that the internet quality and connection reflects this,” Newman continued. “Vermont scored poorly in the research however wherever you are in the country it is essential to do some research and find the best options when it comes to choosing an internet service provider.”
